Mahindra Spark The Rise is back; this time with $1mn prize for mobility and solar challenge

The Mahindra Group has been fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in India with its Spark the Rise (STR) initiative that was launched in 2011. STR is a platform that seeks to catalyze world-class innovation and entrepreneurship through a collaborative approach – bringing together an ecosystem of partners to run programs, challenges, and competitions that inspire and enable the Rise of a world-class India. To date, STR has over 300,000 users, has raised funding worth USD 1 million, awarded 100 grants, built over 20 partnerships, generated over 1.3 million votes and currently has nearly 2,000 live projects in operation.

For STR, The Mahindra Group is offering an innovation prize – the ‘Rise Prize’ of USD 1 million to drive globally relevant, disruptive innovations while helping build a culture of innovation in India. This year, STR has posed two exciting challenges to innovators – the Mobility Challenge, which invites solutions for driverless cars in India and the second Solar Challenge aims to make solar energy products more accessible to the population at large.

According to Mr. Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group, “With the Rise Prize, the Mahindra Group wants to provoke big disruptive ideas that can dramatically change lives. We are offering a big incentive for fresh thinking among the new generation of innovators in our country. Our ambition is to propel India into the next orbit of Innovation and develop the nascent innovation ecosystem in India. Essentially we want to catalyze the rise of world-class, world-beating innovations and technology from India.”

More about Spark The Rise

STR connects entrepreneurs to resources, features innovators on television, and connects passionate individuals with the country’s most influential and powerful figures through the Amazing Indians program.

STR’s collaborative approach seeks to achieve scale by connecting people, partners, and resources. From development agencies and investors, incubators and accelerators, to research centers and individuals who have the passion and drive to see India innovate, STR helps them to make the connections that inspire and enable the rise of disruptive innovations in India.

More about Mobility and Solar Challenge

With the Mobility Challenge, the Mahindra Group is encouraging innovation in the area of driverless cars for Indian roads. This aims to redefine the future of mobility. The benefits of an effective solution include decreased road mortality rates, lower driver fatigue, increased environmental friendliness and making transportation more inclusive for people that are differently-abled. The last date for application is 9th August 2014.

The Solar Challenge looks for innovative ideas in the area of ‘Affordable DIY Rooftop Solar Kits’. As cities continue to grow at an unprecedented rate, there is an increasingly urgent need for power and sustainable ways to generate it. With its abundant sunshine, India is believed to have the energy equivalent to the vast Middle Eastern oil fields when it comes to solar power. This presents an unparalleled opportunity for the country to lead the global energy revolution through solar energy.

The rationale behind this challenge is to make solar energy generation more affordable and accessible with a DIY Rooftop Solar Kit. The last date for application is 28th June 2014.